Holic Foods, an all-natural food manufacturer and distributor, plans to expand its operations in Middletown, Indiana. The company will build a new factory and plans to create up to 42 new jobs by 2020 in Henry County.

The company, which specializes in clean label, healthy food products, will invest more than $2.1 million to revitalize a 30,000-square-foot, vacant factory at 710 Norfleet Drive in Middletown, establishing a food production center. The new building, which is scheduled to be operational in March, will be constructed to Safe Quality Food (SQF) Institute Level 2 certification standards, allowing Holic Foods to handle acidified and high-acid food products, the only facility of its kind in Indiana.

With the addition of this new facility, Holic Foods will make its own brand products, serve as a co-packing and private label packager for other clients and provide thought-to-market consulting for food entrepreneurs. The company, which currently has four team members, plans to begin hiring this year for a variety of positions, including administrators, production and facility workers, food science specialists and microbiologists.

“Holic Foods is joining a strong food movement in Indiana with great state and local support,” said Shari Nicholls, Vice President of Strategy and Marketing of Holic Foods. “Along with producing our naturally addictive products, we want to help Hoosiers realize their dreams of becoming food entrepreneurs. If they have a great recipe or food they want to get in stores, we can help. We are paving the way for fellow food entrepreneurs to navigate the environment, as well as providing a partnership to produce their amazing products to share."

“Holic Foods is one of the many small business success stories here in Indiana, utilizing one of the state’s many shared co-working and makerspaces to get its start and now growing to its own state-of-the-art, food manufacturing facility,” said Elaine Bedel, President of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). “To take Indiana’s economy to the next level, we will remain committed to strengthening the entrepreneurial climate that has helped launch companies like Holic Foods and equipping job creators with the tools they need to thrive in our state.”

As an incentive, IEDC offered Holic Foods up to $125,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $50,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives. Middletown approved additional incentives at the request of the New Castle-Henry County Economic Development Corporation.